With social media and compact cameras both integrated into most mobile devices, users have gained regular exposure to a flurry of photographs courtesy of social networks, text messages and email.

But how does your pic stand out among the crowded social scrapbook? Instagram made its mark with photo-editing flare that jazzed up ordinary pics. Looking to capitalize on the popularity of those techniques — with a twist — is the newbie, Etchings. Get a snapshot of what it has to offer after the jump. (more…)

If I told you that this is a review for an app that lets you apply filters to your photos, you’d probably roll your eyes and move on right? There are a million of these and they’re all the same: the interfaces are cute but hard to navigate, the free filters are limited and they always try to convince you to pay extra for better ones.

Well hold on, because Magic Hour is a game changer. This app not only lets you apply a number of great preset filters, it lets you build and save your own using an awesome tool set. Even better, there’s a theme marketplace full of user-submitted free downloads to add to your collection! Intrigued yet? You should be.

Photography is one of my absolute favorite sections of the app store. The iPhone’s impressive combination of cameras and technology gives developers an amazing platform on which to build some wildly creative and highly functional applications. Whether you’re a professional photographer or a complete beginner, you can’t help but appreciate the variety and quality of photography apps that are available, most of the time for less than $2.

Today we’ve rounded up 100 of our favorite photography apps for you to check out. 100 apps is a lot to browse to we’ve made it easier by placing each app into one of eight categories: Lomo & Retro, Photo Booth, Multiple Effects & Tools, Photography Utilities, Tilt Shift and DOF, Silly & Fun, Panoramic, Video and HDR.